Machiavellianism in Medical Students

Students' moral reasoning, Machiavellianism and socially desirable responding: implications for teaching ethics and research integrity

“…Whereas a higher post-conventional schema score in women was not a surprise, 4 higher deception scores among Croatian female students are in contrast with most reports of lower Machiavellianism scores in women than men. [24][25][26] Croatian female students had higher scores on the SDR impression management subscale, whereas male students scored higher on the self-deception subscale ) a finding similar to other studies on college students. 19 Impression management is a construct of a deliberate attempt to present a socially favourable personality, whereas self-deception is an overly positive but honest bias in self-description.…”

“…24 Also, higher scores on Machiavellianism were predictive of negative attitudes of medical students towards patients with psychological problems, elderly patients or terminally ill patients. 24,25,27 In a population of college students, Machiavellianism was associated positively with a nihilistic, relativistic and non-idealistic ethical orientation. 27 High Machiavellianism among Croatian medical students and its association with moral reasoning may be a reflection of the socio-economic environment of a system in post-communist transition.…”

Understanding and Improving Medical Student Specialty Choice: A Synthesis of the Literature Using Decision Theory as a Referent

“…Merrill et al 38 studied the character trait of Machiavellianism in medical students. Machiavellianism refers to an individual's perceived ability to manipulate others in interpersonal interactions.…”

“…In addition, they found that Machiavellianism scores predicted specialty choice, with those highest in the trait choosing anesthesiology and radiology and those scoring lowest in the trait choosing internal medicine and family medicine. 38 It is of interest that the two specialties attracting students with the highest Machiavellianism scores were specialties with minimal patient contact, whereas the two specialties attracting students with the lowest scores were primary care specialties. Christie and Geis, 40 who originated the most commonly used Machiavellianism scale, stated that emotional detachment appears to be the underlying characteristic of Machiavellianism; therefore, it makes intuitive sense that medical students who are more emotionally detached would be more likely to choose specialty areas in which interpersonal communication is likely to be minimized.…”

Who Selects Obstetrics and Gynecology as a Career and Why, and What Traits Do They Possess?

“…(Merrill et al, 1993). Students who express this trait are authoritarian, shift blame to others when they have failed a patient, view the medical record and laboratory profile as more important than seeing the patient as a person, and find undiagnosable illnesses and unpredictable patient outcomes as offensive.…”